Mouse and Cat

Part 9

Justin dragged himself into the diner. He just wanted to go home, but he was expected for the dinner shift and so, here he was. He dropped his bag and books in the back room and grabbed an apron. The diner was already busy so he got right to work. There was little time to think about Brian and the fact that they had not been able to connect all day. He was beginning to think that he and Brian were over once and for all.

Brian tried Justin's cell one more time. It went to voicemail. "Fuck!" Brian reacted and shut it off. He went back to the table in the restaurant, put on his best charming face and tried to schmooze the client.

By eight o'clock the dinner rush was over and Kiki told Justin to go home. She could tell Justin was tired and she could finish out the night shift by herself. Gratefully Justin made his way out to the car and headed for his apartment. He wanted a shower and bed. He had barely slept the night before and he was getting a major headache.

Brian said goodnight to the client. It looked very promising that they were going to land another account. He checked his phone only to find there were no messages from Justin. Lindsay had left a message saying that Gus was home and sleeping peacefully. The antibiotics had apparently done the trick.

Looking at his watch Brian decided to try Justin at the apartment since he had had no luck reaching him on his cell. Surely he must be home by now.

Daphne was watching television when Justin came in. He looked worse than he had in the morning.

"Hey," she said. "You look like shit."

"I feel like shit. My head is pounding."

"I'll get you some aspirin."

"Thanks. I'm going to take a shower." Justin disappeared into his bedroom as Daphne found the aspirin in her purse and set a couple of pills and a glass of water on the nightstand beside Justin's bed. She wondered if Justin had talked to Brian. Maybe they had broken up and that was why Justin looked so miserable. She was going to have a serious talk, no, a serious tongue lashing, with Mr. Kinney.

Daphne could hear the shower running so she left the stuff by the bed and closed the door behind her. She settled down to watch her show. A few minutes later the shower went off and she figured Justin had gone to bed. Sleep would be the best thing for him. She was just getting into her show when the phone rang. She grabbed it quickly hoping it wouldn't wake Justin.

"Hello?" she said.

"Daphne, is Justin there?"

"Yeah, but he's asleep."

"It's only nine o'clock."

"He wasn't feeling well. He had a major headache when he came in."

"Could you wake him up? I really need to talk to him."

"Didn't you hear what I said? He has a headache and he's gone to bed."

"This is important," Brian tried to explain without explaining. It would be enough that he would have to explain himself to Justin.

"I'm sorry, Brian, but Justin needs to rest. Call him tomorrow." Daphne hung up the phone. She didn't really want to get caught in the middle of this mess. Justin would probably kill her for not waking him up, but she was doing what she thought was best. So there!

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next morning Brian woke before six. He had spent a restless night wishing that Justin was there to relieve some of his tension and to snuggle up against when they were through. He looked at himself in the mirror. He better get this thing with Justin settled soon. The bags under his eyes were growing exponentially with each day he didn't see the boy. And his French anti-aging cream seemed to be failing miserably.

He stepped into the shower wondering if Justin would call him this morning. By the time he was dressed and ready for work it was not yet seven o'clock. He had not heard from Justin. The boy went to bed at nine o'clock the previous night. Surely he would have had enough sleep by now.

Brian debated calling the apartment but he half suspected that Daphne would answer and give him some excuse about why he couldn't speak to Justin. Making a quick decision he picked up his car keys from the counter and headed out. It didn't take him long to get to Justin's apartment building. He found a place to park down the street. He could see Jennifer's car parked a little closer to the building. Justin must be there.

He turned off the motor of the Jeep and sat looking at the building. He had to get this straightened out with Justin. He could imagine what the boy must have thought when he wasn't there the day before yesterday. Brian was sure that Justin thought he had gone out tricking. And he had thought about doing that, until Lindsay called.

With a sigh Brian got out of the Jeep and began walking towards the apartment building. He wished that Justin had had more faith in him. He was sure that the boy had no idea how hard it had been for Brian to commit to him, to commit to anyone. But when Brian had said those words, had declared that he loved Justin, there was no taking it back as far as he was concerned. His word was his bond and he wouldn't go back on it. He hoped he would be able to convince Justin of that.

He knocked on the door to the apartment. There was no answer so he pounded harder. Finally he thought he heard some scurrying around and the door opened. Justin stood in front of him wearing his pajama bottoms and looking all tousled and sleepy and good enough to eat.

"Did I wake you?" Brian smirked.

"Yes, asshole," Justin replied obviously not yet his usual sunny self.

"I thought when you went to bed at nine o'clock last night you would have been up for hours by now."

"Some of us need more sleep than you do."

"May I come in or are you going to do this in front of the neighbors?" A woman had just stepped out of one of the nearby apartments and was looking curiously at the two men as she made her way to the stairs.

Justin moved back and allowed Brian in. So far Daphne had not put in an appearance and Justin was thankful for that. So was Brian.

"So what do you want to say?"

"I think we need to set a few things straight," Brian stated.

"Do we now?" Justin asked sarcastically. "I think I already know, but where were you day before yesterday?"

"Where were you? And why the fuck don't you answer your goddam phone?"

"You don't answer yours either."

"I have a business to run."

"I have classes and work and studying … to say nothing of a massive headache courtesy of you."

"Would you just answer the question? Where were you?"

"I stopped at Michael's to show him the sketches I had done for Rage."

"And that took you two hours?"

"Three actually."

"What the fuck?"

"We got working on some new ideas and time just flew by. I didn't realize how long I had been there until I was ready to leave."

"You could have let me know."

"I forgot. We got so much accomplished. I totally lost track of time."

Brian frowned and ran his fingers through his hair. "Why did you shut off your phone?"

"I didn't do it on purpose. Geez!"

"So why was it off?"

"I had been talking to my mother and she kind of made me mad. I guess I unconsciously shut it off in retaliation. I didn't realize it was off until I was outside the loft. I tried to call you but you didn't answer."

"Why did she make you mad?"

"Don't change the subject," Justin retorted. "Where were you when I got to the loft?" Brian waited. He knew what was going to come. "Did you even wait for me at all? Or did you rush right out to Babylon to find a trick?"

"No."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean that I waited for almost two hours. Then I got a call from Lindsay."

"Lindsay?"

"Yes, Lindsay. She had to take Gus to the hospital and she wanted me to meet her there."

"Gus was in the hospital?" Justin felt like someone had just kicked him in the gut. He had been thinking the worst of Brian and the man had been at the hospital with his son. "Is he all right?"

"They let him come home yesterday. Just kept him overnight. He had some kind of ear infection and a really high fever."

"Shit! I'm sorry."

"So am I, but I left a message for you to call me. I didn't know what was wrong with Gus when I called you. I didn't want to scare you by saying he was in the hospital. Why didn't you call me?"

"I … When the loft was empty, I thought you'd gone to Babylon," Justin admitted reluctantly. "That you hadn't even waited for me." He felt really crappy about how he had reacted. He shouldn't have thought the worst of Brian.

"Justin, I told you that I … loved you … in Cape Cod. I've never said that to anyone as a boyfriend before. I doubt that I'll ever say it to anyone else. I always mean what I say."

"And do you mean what you tacitly promised?" Justin had to ask. He needed some reassurance after all the doubt people had cast on Brian's character and their relationship.

"The part about you being the only one for me?" Justin nodded. "I thought that's what I just said."

"You mean it?" Justin gasped his face lighting up in a megawatt smile.

"Jesus, Justin, I just got finished saying that I mean what I say." Brian hated these kinds of conversations, and Justin seemed intent on making him repeat himself over and over again.

"Everybody was so negative about you. I guess I got scared."

"That's exactly why I didn't want to make our relationship common knowledge."

"I'm beginning to understand," Justin admitted. He started walking towards Brian who opened his arms and pulled his boy against his body.

"I missed you," Brian whispered his voice full of emotion.

Justin breathed in the scent of his man his face pressed against Brian's neck. "I missed you too."

Brian's lips found his and the kiss engulfed them both. They sucked and tongued and pressed against either until they thought they might spontaneously combust. Finally Brian pulled back.

"I should get to work," he said his voice raspy with lust.

"Do you have to? My room's just over there."

"I know," Brian chuckled. "You're a very bad influence on me."

"Moi?" Justin asked all wide eyed innocence.

Brian couldn't resist that look. The hell with work. He picked Justin up throwing him over his shoulder and marched into the bedroom. With a sharp kick the door closed behind them as Brian threw his tasty cargo onto the bed. One swift pull and Justin's pajama bottoms disappeared. Brian undid his fly.

"This is going to be fast and rough," Brian stated as he freed his cock from his trousers.

Justin grinned. "I'll take it any way I can get it," Justin replied. His cock throbbed against his stomach at the sight of Brian's rock hard dick.

"Lube?" Brian demanded.

Justin rolled to the side and pulled a tube of lube out of the nightstand drawer. Brian unceremoniously squeezed some up Justin's ass.

"Hey, that's cold," Justin protested.

"Fast and rough," Brian repeated with a smirk. "Condom."

Justin knew Brian always carried condoms and lube with him, but he played along. He reached into the still open drawer and fished out a condom. He held it out to Brian.

"Put it on me," Brian ordered.

Justin ripped the condom open with his teeth, Brian watching his every move. He began to roll it onto Brian's dick, making the whole process excruciatingly slow. Brian groaned.

"I thought I said 'fast and rough'! What are you … a fucking snail?"

"Just want everything to be perfect," Justin cooed doing his best to stifle the giggles that were bubbling up inside him.

Brian heard the laugh and he was not amused. Still fully clothed he knelt on the edge of Justin's bed and hoisted the boy's legs up onto his shoulders. With no further preparation he shoved the tip of his cock up Justin's ass.

"Ow, ooooh," Justin reacted at the initial stretch followed by that incredible feeling of Brian filling him up almost beyond capacity.

When Brian was fully lodged he leaned down and kissed Justin thoroughly before he started pounding into the boy. It didn't take either of them long to reach orgasm. A couple of days apart and they were both ready for release. Brian fisted Justin's cock as he felt his own orgasm build. When Justin started to cum, Brian tried to direct it onto Justin's chest and away from his suit. His own orgasm hit him with more force than he imagined but he managed to roll off the boy and not onto his chest.

They lay side by side for a minute or two, each trying to regain their equilibrium. Finally Brian turned over and got up off the bed. He disposed of the condom and cleaned his dick placing it back in his trousers. He looked at Justin who was watching his every move. Brian grabbed some tissues and wiped off Justin's chest, then leaned in for a long, lingering kiss.

"I have to go," Brian said as he tossed the tissues in the wastebasket. "I have another bitch of a day."

"Me too."

"Then I guess I won't expect any phone calls," Brian said tongue in cheek.

Justin grinned and shook his head. He knew that things were all right between them now. "Do you want me to come to the loft tonight?"

"I always want you to come … to the loft."

Justin giggled at the pregnant pause. "What time will you be home?"

"I should be there by seven, but make it eight and then you won't have to wait for me."

"Okay," Justin replied watching Brian trying to smooth out his rumpled clothes.

"I'm a fucking mess," Brian griped looking into the mirror on Justin's dresser.

"You always look great. And it was worth it, wasn't it?"

Brian smiled, one of those genuine ones that happened rather infrequently. "Yeah." And then he was gone.

Justin lay on his back staring up at the ceiling. He was happy. Happy that Brian had come to the apartment this morning. Happy that he had been wrong about where Brian was the other night. Happy that they had just fucked. It was always great when they fucked. Why couldn't the rest of their time together go as well?

Reluctantly Justin got up to go shower. He did have a busy day ahead of him, but he had definitely enjoyed his wake up call.